Eon crown
by Neucom executive
Summary: After the defeat in the Sinnoh conference Paul returns to his hometown only to be challenged by a number of strange events which encourage him to travel to Alto Mare in a search for very certain pokemon... A dark continuation of a Sinnoh saga starring Paul as a main character. Oh, and there is a slight incorporation of Guilty Crown anime.
1. Chapter 1

So, yeah, I've been nurturing this idea for a while now and I finally think the time has come to reveal it. The fic itself starts during the Sinnoh league quarter finals between Ash and Paul. Since Paul is my favourite character in the whole anime, I've decided to make him look extremely epic even during his defeat. Actually I came up with what seems like a theory of why Paul had really lost, therefore the fic may sometimes sound like a non-canon. Anyway, this pilot chapter has one flaw (if it can be called such) - it is very detailed. I plan to include more action in the future chapters, but for now I have one problem - I don't have beta. This chapter had actually been checked by one guy, but now he has left me, and I need a new one to maintain the quality of the story. Besides, I'm far from being a good fic writer... For that reason I'm not planning to update this story, unless I get a proper beta for this fic.

Finally, have a pleasant reading and don't forget to leave reviews! =^_^=

**Chapter 1. Pilot.**

Hundreds of people were packed into a main circular stadium, cheering, booing and squirming in their seats trying to see past the person in front of them as they looked upon what had to be one of the most dramatic matches of the Sinnoh League Conference of the past few years.

Their gazes were all fixed upon the same thing; a large rectangular dirt battlefield. During the match, the arena had undergone several changes. Small chunks of rock and masonry were now strewn about the pockmarked floor of the field, while several large holes left from dig attacks brought additional information on the intense of the ongoing battle.

On one side of the rugged battlefield a young teen stood in the red trainer box; his dark eyes were focused on his foe's pokemon as thousands of watts surged through Infernape's body via one of Electrivire's cable-like tails which had a tight grip on its opponent's right hand. The fire monkey was letting out agonizing cries, which should have given Paul that sweet feeling of a forthcoming victory. It didn't.

For him, it was more of an execution of a former discarded pokemon, one which hadn't fitted under his mother's teachings, which combined a team of power-packed pokemon with clever strategy. However, with five pokemon down, he began to doubt that never backing down strategy was the key to his own success. He was missing something important - no, it couldn't have been that pathetic concept of friendship that Ketchum was so devoted to. No, it had to have been something else, something which he should have realized before this stupid match.

Eventually, Electrivire discharged all of its energy into the fire monkey**.** Unlike his opponent, Ash Ketchum didn't hide his emotions and gritted his teeth, unable to help his beloved pokemon in any way. A truly marvelous sight for Paul's ego…In order to prove a knock out, Electrivire released fire-type's arm, which resulted in a crash of the literally barbequed Infernape forward onto his knees and then under the spectators' cheers, finally slump down onto the dusty arena.

"INFERNAPE IS DOWN!" the thunderous announcement of the commentator through stadium megaphone drowned out crowd's shouts at the unbelievable sight.

"Infernape is unable –" the referee – a young man in his early twenties came closer to the fallen fire monkey to announce defeat, was about to raise one of his arms and point a red flag toward Electrivire and its trainer to symbolize their victory when a sudden roar from Electrivire announced Paul's protest to finish the match. The electric-type pokemon waved its left hand at the face of the struggling Infernape who was attempting to get up and continue the battle. It was a risky choice. Paul realized that if not for a frivolity of his trusted companion, he would have been probably announced as a winner, but now he wanted to crush Ketchum's confidence even more, as opposed to simply progressing into the semi-finals.

"So I guess that's the best you can do then. You're pathetic, just like always." Paul threw his "moto" replica, before switching his sight away from his former pokemon, as if it didn't deserve its former trainer's look.

What happened next was mostly beyond anyone's expectations. As Paul's words reached the sprawling Infernape, the fire-type's bulging eyes opened wide. The pokemon's expression was now something it saved for those rare times it was truly enraged. Incidentally, all these times had occured whilst battling against his former trainer, Paul Evans.

"Afraid not." this comment of Ash's was enough to morph Paul's previous look of disgust into something which could be described as awe, disbelief and even horror. Before his own very eyes, Infernape got on its legs without any help of its hands, as if some supernatural force were pulling the strings of a puppet. Of course, any educated person on the stadium along with the competitors knew that it hadn't been just some sort of magic.

"All right, Infernape, time to show Paul just how strong you are!" Ash hastily remarked, watching the sudden revival of his last pokemon.

_'Blaze…'_ Paul's fears were proven, when Infernape unleashed a pillar of flames straight into the sky, which were accompanied with the shrieks of pure wraith. The purple haired trainer spat out an oath quietly, reminding himself to keep his emotions under control until the end of the battle – a painful lesson he received from Brandon, during the battle against the frontier brain in Snowpoint city. That damn ability to pump up the fire-type, when the pokemon was on the edge of collapse had changed the complexity of the battle. Paul was no longer sure how to proceed further – attack fast and with agression or continue fighting defensively and let his enemy finally run out of steam. Both tactics seemed appropriate, as Electrivire had enough defensive and offensive moves at his sleeve, but at that time Paul decided to go into va-banque, as he was sure that protect would not withstand Infernape's blaze.

However, just when Paul was about to give a new command to his trustworthy pokemon, he realised that to his horror, Ash had beat him to the punch.

"Yes, time for a real battle! Infernape, flamethrower!" Ash shouted, not hiding his excitement.

_'Was it all part of his plan from the beginning?! To activate Infernape's blaze ability?! So he actually dared to use my own strategy against me…' _Another silent self-reprimand left a purple-haired trainer's mouth for not including such important aspect in his strategy for this battle, while at the same time coming up with a countermeasure of his own.

"Infernape is more powerful than ever! So heads up! Thunder!" Electrivire understood his trainer's plan and nodded loyally at the command, as the antenna atop its head buzzed into life and began to crackle with newly created electrical energy. The stream of electricity engulfed the pokemon in a mere second, creating a cloak of pure energy designed to protect it from Infernape's blaze onslaught and launch a counterattack at the same time. The electric-type raised the palms of its giant hands in front of it to meet the enemy's first wave of attack, while its tails burrowed deeply into the rocky earth of the stadium to prevent the possible recoil from the inevitable collision of two powerful attacks.

However, it seemed that even Paul wasn't prepared for the scale of the attack, as the now blaze-powered flamethrower attack, which distinctly resembled a hyper-beam move, destroyed Electrivire's thunder and reached the electric type effortlessly. The explosion of two attacks flooded the field with a huge amount of grey smoke.

"Mach punch! Go!" the purple haired trainer could only stare in disgust, as he heard his opponent behind the cloud, issuing the extremely fast attack. At the next second Electrivire flew back out of the smoke in a great arc before crashing on the ground and even rolling backwards. However, due to his trainer's vigorous training, the electric type refused to give up so easily, grouping in the air and kneeling on its left knee. Unseen to anyone else, Paul gave a quick sigh of relief, though he knew perfectly well that it wasn't time to slack off – he endured the last two attacks, and now it was his turn to unleash a storm of his own.

"Let's finish this! Use thunder punch!" the Veilstone trainer barked, while unbeknownst to him, Ash Ketchum responded with the same strategy, issuing a powerful flare blitz.

Noticing how the opponent's Infernape lunged into the air as its fire mane incased the pokemon into one large fire ball while its flames changed into a light blue color, brought a skeptical raise of an eyebrow from Paul. Clearly he didn't expect such a bold move from Ketchum, as the fire type was on a verge of collapse with a poison status in addition. Though Paul also realized, how desperate the situation of his opponent was, which could have forced Ash to finish the battle with one final blow… or maybe he was just so dumb that he issued such a reckless attack.

Meanwhile, Electrivire didn't waste time either. It smashed its fists together as a deadly electric arc ran through its arms. It was a 'standard' thunder punch modification, which made pokemon very proud. The principle was quite simple, while genius at the same time – using both its arms to double the damage output of the attack. However that was just half of a trick. The electric type was smashing its fists to create a powerful energy arc running between them, as if its arms were two working Tesla generators. Such combination of attacks now dealt twice as damage as a normal thunder punch would have in succession, but it also implemented a thunder shock effect, making it the most powerful close-quarters combat electric move ever known.

Finally, the two respected attacks collided, creating a what seemed to be a vortex of fire that was being restrained by the electric field that Electrivire had put out. The deadlock spawned another cloud of dust, sending it across the field in all directions and then at the aisles, blocking everyone's view. While most of the spectators and Ash Ketchum covered themselves from the dust storm hailed by the two pokemon, Paul stood strong, glaring at the sight, as his and rival's ways of training, caring for their pokemon and leading the battle crossed their paths in this final face off. Neither side was planning on giving up…

Electrivire was repelling the devouring flames of flare blitz with its electrified fists when a sharp pain surged through its left leg. It fought to breathe steadily, but the previous attack had severely injured its left knee during the heavy landing - yet it couldn't lose, too much was at stake, it was its master's last hope, it would, no it _could _not fail. However, such thoughts proved detrimental as the distraction caused Electrivire to wince from the pain, weakening its defense. The enraged Infernape immediately saw through the weak spot and with a deafening roar concentrated all the energy of its attack on foe's electric barrier, tearing it apart and dealing enormous damage to the electric type, while performing a front flip over the foe and landing just behind Electrivire.

The elemental vortex burst out as Infernape emerged from it, standing still in a fighting stance, definitely suffering the aftermath effect of flare blitz, but the attentions of the audience were now directed toward the screams of agony and anguish of the electric type still being incased in the flames of flare blitz.

Audible gasps of astonishment and disbelief rushed through the stadium as the last wisps of dust dispersed in the air, revealing a severely injured - but still upright - Electrivire! The pokemon said its name proudly, but its wide eyes were telling a completely different story. However the very same could be said about Infernape. Both trainers and their pokemon faced each other, as the battle entered its final phase in a form of a staring contest.

Time nearly stopped for Paul; the battle had changed so quickly and yet it had seemed like ages ago when his Electrivire had held Infernape's limp hand in his.

_'Hm, why am I not feeling as if I'm losing…' _Paul wasn't able to develop this train of thought any further, because in the next second his last pokemon crashed on the dusty arena unable to fight any longer.

"ELECTRIVIRE IS UNABLE TO BATTLE! INFERNAPE WINS! WHICH MEANS THAT VICTORY GOES TO ASH OF PALLET TOWN!" the judge wasn't so scrupulous with checking the electric type's official status, just like before he did with Infernape, and announced the final verdict, therefore earning an angry glare from a certain trainer.

The crowd went into an uproar at the sight; insults and degrading words thrown out like yesterdays trash - all aimed at the purple haired teen - at the sight of Paul Evans, 'The Veilstone Boulder' crashing to his knees in defeat. It made the day of many people within the confines of the stadium; finally someone had shown him the true meaning of friendship.

Paul grunted, conceding a defeat before glancing at his opponent though then quickly switching his attention to the humiliating sight of his beaten pokemon.

"Well, you got what you wanted. Still… thank you and good battle, Electrivire." the purple haired trainer approached his electric partner and told him these rare words of positive appraisal before recalling it in his pokeball. The outstanding moves which Electrivire was able to perform and defend from didn't go unnoticed by its trainer. Right now, however…

Paul looked at Ash, who was hugging hisformer pokemon. Paul threw a mischevious grin at Ash, not expecting much of a response. Instead, Infernape responded for its current trainer in form of a victory gesture, raising his right fist, but not before collapsing.

Paul smirked at the fire monkey and made his way to the participants' tunnel, realizing that despite the loss, his opponent suffered an extreme damage toll himself. Paul wasn't called the Veilstone bolder just for nothing.

-!-

The stepped walking path leading to the Sinnoh League Village was bathed in the last rays of the setting sun. However, the fact that he would have to make part of his journey to the sea port in the utter darkness hasn't stopped Paul from leaving the place of his public disgrace.

His thoughts were now on his further actions. Since he was out of this League, he was free to choose any region as his next destination. But first he would analyze his last defeat and come up with new methods to prevent himself from repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

Paul's attention was especially focused on the last duel between Electrivire and Infernape. Back at the pokemon center, he received some shocking news from Nurse Joy. As far as she could tell, his electric partner had received a heavy injury on its left knee during the battle, yet it hadn't shown any sign of being hurt. Originally, the combo that consisted of flamethrower and mach punch would have been a serious problem even for a water or rock type; Electrivire had not only endured both attacks, but also had been able to respond quickly enough to handle Infernape's wrath for some time.

"Paul!" the Veilstone trainer winced weakly, immediately recognizing the speaker's voice. He slowly turned around to face his regional nemesis. He didn't want anyone to notice his departure, but then he remembered that he wanted to say something to Ash back on the stadium before he had left.

"Infernape has gotten a lot stronger." Paul confessed, something which he hadn't been doing for quite a long time.

"Yeah, he sure has, Paul! Huh, are you going?" the raven-haired boy asked the most obvious question. He probably wanted to see his rival to watch him battling against that low life cheater, Paul's own opinion about Tobias, who was able to get all eight Sinnoh badges with just one Darkrai. To the purple haired trainer he was yet just another person whose pokemon he would eagerly grind into the dirt. But now it had to wait for some other time.

"I've lost, Ash, haven't I? So there's no reason for me to stay here any longer. I'm going back to Snowpoint city and request another battle there with Brandon." Paul shielded himself with a first excuse he could come up with. Of course, the Veilstone trainer was planning to give a lesson of his own to that pompous ass Brandon for quite a long now, but again, that would be impossible without doing his homework first.

"Gotcha. Good luck, Paul." Paul nodded slightly as Ash threw him a parting phrase.

"Yeah, thanks, you too." A ship horn signaled the soon depart in a distance, reminding Paul of his bitter cruise back to Canalave city – yet a good reason for him to make a quick farewell with his annoying rival.

So, I'll see you." The Veilstone trainer continued his descent, burying his hands in the pockets of his grey full-length trousers and eyes half shut, not really carrying about the things that could lie ahead.

"One more thing, Paul! Let's battle again really soon!" the cheering words of a raven haired trainer - accompanied by happy announcements of his electric mouse - caught Paul off guard. The purple haired trainer decided not to show his pleasantly surprised look and just made a hand before digging back into himself and carrying on the stepped path down to the port.

A weak smile crept upon Paul's face as he was descending.

_'This is far from over, Ketchum!'_ Paul promised himself. Next time he clashed the Pallet town trainer, there would be no mercy, and he would implement all of the techniques he stored for his battle with Tobias.

_'Enjoy your victory until then, Ash…, because next time I'll prove this was no more than a fluke.'_

After all, Paul Evans was not the one to roll over easily…


	2. Chapter 2

**A special thanks to MewBladeXxX for beta reading and promoting this story. So, I guess, if the pilot chapter was mostly based on anime series, now is the time to really move on with the fic plot. Won't say anything regarding the content of this chapter; only that it is rated T for a reason, since it does contain some bad language. Finally have a nice reading and don't forget to leave reviews. =^_^= **

**Chapter 2 - Birthday gifts.**

After arriving back to Canalave city Paul stopped at one of the information screens, which had been installed for those unfortunate, who weren't able to get a ticket for Sinnoh conference. The semi-final battle between Ash and Tobias was about to begin and the panels had attracted crowds of people, both trainers and civilians alike. The main interest of the purple haired trainer was the battle strategy of Darkrai owner, of course. Even though Paul despised this mystic man for his excessive use of a legendary dark type, he still had to devise a plan of how to beat such a powerful opponent. However, without any information on the rest of Tobias's team the Veilstone trainer was mostly blindfolded. As far as Paul was concerned, a trainer who was able to capture or befriend such a powerful Pokemon couldn't have performed such trick without a proper set of 'instruments'. For that only reason Paul still put some hopes on Ash to reveal the rest of Tobias' pokemon. And so, the match began…

While Paul approved his Kanto nemesis first choice, Heracross, the next two Pokemon seemed to be of random choice. So far knowing Tobias's style, the best countermeasure would have been shiny Noctowl with its insomnia ability. Instead Torcoal and Gible proved themselves useless against Darkrai. Sceptile could also have been sent out after Heracross, since Hoenn grass starter had the same affinity to Ash as Infernape. Paul even got a little jealous about the speed of Sceptile, however the real time for astonishment lay ahead, when Tobias finally released his second pokemon…

"AND TOBIAS' SECOND POKEMON IS LATIOS!" The commentator's words echoed in Paul's mind, merging into one scream. The fact that Tobias had another legendary up his sleeve left Veilstone trainer with a wide-open mouth and a look full of horror.

_'What the hell is that silver-haired guy?! At first was Darkrai, next – Latios. At such rate his last pokemon will be Arceus itself!'_ Paul's shock slowly morphed into a blind rage. All his trainings and hardships he and his Pokemon had gone through, all those whom they'd crushed together were nothing against such force. Paul's hands slowly curled into fists as he shook with rage. The same sensation surged through him when he battled Brandon, the Pyramid King. He felt weak.

Paul shook his head, trying to break the spell, but the feeling only rushed through with a new force, when commentator announced Ketchum's fifth pokemon being defeated.

_'Fifth pokemon already?! Each fight with this guy is turning in one-sided battle! Would even her trio be enough to defeat him?'_ Paul glanced at one of his pokeballs stuck to his belt, the one, which contained Drapion. Paul knew he had brought additional risk oh his head by releasing this pokemon on the battlefield. At least no one on the stadium, even Cynthia herself, had noticed that giant scorpion was not Paul's but of a very specific owner…

The speed at which the eon dragon beat its opponents was scary even by Paul's standards. Now it was only Ketchum's most trusted partner, Pikachu which left and had to stand against Tobias' five Pokemon.

The purple haired trainer growled at the images being displayed on the screen. _'How do I beat that f#cking cheater, if even Ketchum has only managed to defeat one of his Pokemon… let alone the fact that his other four Pokemon are no less powerful?'_ Paul asked himself, outraged at the fact that none of his own Pokemon could rival with one of the Tobias' in one-on-one battle.

Meanwhile, the battle moved on. Pikachu had somehow managed to climb up on Latios' back and now was wearing it off with its thunderbolt attack. Despite the recently casted light screen even Paul had to admit that Pikachu was handling itself well. The very thought of saying that this Pallet weakling could do something right though made Paul want to gag in utter disgust.

The eon dragon eventually succeeded in shaking off Pikachu, and now the electric mouse was in a free fall mode, though not without its trainer's plan. The electric rodent launched a volt tackle attack powering it up with a kinetic energy from the fall. This additional energy came up handy, when Pikachu collided with a beam of pure energy as a counter measure in order to pave its way to Latios.

As Pikachu broke through luster purge, it hit the eon dragon dead straight in the forehead causing large explosion, quite enough to interrupt the live TV broadcast of the match. When the network reestablished the broadcast, a sight of both Pikachu and Latios beaten senseless filled the screen.

Paul finally gave up watching the match; a loud snort of distaste escaped from him, as he turned away from the screen and buried his hands in the pockets of his grey full-length trousers. What he wanted now was to set up a large train session for all of his Pokemon, but most of them were back at Veilstone.

'Now I'll have to make up with the loser of my own blood.'

Paul quickly headed out of Canalave city. As the Veistone trainer was waiting for one of the numerous bridges to come down, he noted the grey clouds that hung lifelessly over head. For some unknown reason Paul loved rainy weather. Myriads of drops of water damped all other noises, allowing the teen to concentrate on his thoughts. Even his quick-tempered nature seemed to be soothed at these moments, and he wouldn't go mad, if his Pokemon failed to perform his task.

'Maybe a little rain will cool me off' Paul thought to himself, as he tried to bring his run-away temper under control. 'I still need a fresh head to find a way to beat Tobias.'

* * *

_Several days later…_

Paul slowly dragged himself along the route 215, which ran file between narrow mountains with no visible end to come. The Veilstone trainer deliberately hadn't called his older brother to pick him up back in Canalave city and switched his pokegear to the flight mode to repel the onslaught of phone calls and e-mails. For the last few days he had been thinking about the strategy of bringing down Tobias, but each time he came to a realization that sole strategy and special training would not be enough. That fact coupled with inability to unleash the built in rage on his Pokemon during the training surely would have torn any individual with Paul-like personality apart. However, on very rare occasions Paul's wrath dropped to the absolute zero, freezing any feelings and emotions. This very same situation was happening to him now.

His pokegear pumped the music at such volume that any passing-by person could easily hear the lyrics. The purple haired trainer didn't mind any bypasser's strange looks though; an apathy caused by the events of the past few days drove Paul to his home town, paralysing any common sense.

It was noon when Paul came over the cliff, which revealed a panoramic view on Veilstone city. With a heavy sigh Paul sought for a ranch on the outskirts of the city.

"Home sweet home, I guess." Paul growled out and began his descend into the city. It took another hour to finally arrive to his and his brother's ranch. The latter wasn't outside taking care of Pokemon, even though Regi's jeep was parked next to the cottage.

Ironically, it was the lack of his brother, which made Paul feel anxious. If the older Evans wasn't outside and yet his car was parked next to the house, it usually meant that Regi was having guests. And Paul was never good at making relations with other people…

Trying to make as little noise as possible the Veilstone trainer slowly pulled the front entrance door.

"Esp! Espeon!" a loud bark from a certain purple eeveelution sent shivers through Paul's spine. The psychic eeveelution was sitting just in front of the entrance door, obviously waiting for someone to come in. But for Paul the presence of this rare pokemon in his and his brother's house only reawakened his anger.

_'Kyurem's Arceus! You'll pay for this older brother!'_ Paul gritted his teeth when he heard the girl's positive response coming from the kitchen and hasty steps of two people.

"Good job, Edmund! See, Reggie, I've told you he would come after lunch!" A girl of Paul's age with a purple bob hairstyle appeared from the hall connecting the dining room with the kitchen. The girl was in a white cotton shirt and identical to her hair color pants. She brought her right arm allowing the psychic eeveelution jump on it with a grace of a cat. The Pokemon purred in pleasure, when the girl gave a whoop of delight in response, completely oblivious to Paul's astonished look, as she started rubbing behind Espeon's giant ears.

"Hugh, Paul, did a Sudowoodo spell strike you or something?" Regie's voice brought Paul back to life as he glared at his older brother. It was said in joking tone though.

"You know the drill, Reggie, what is SHE doing here?" Paul muttered harshly, as he finally entered the house slamming the door behind him.

"You shouldn't be so rude, my dear brother. The reason I'm here is because a certain someone has forgotten about his birthday and decided to avoid the society so that his older brother would scramble half of the Sinnoh police department and even summon me from Kanto to search for your pathetic ass." A deceptively calm tone of his sister brought a sense of unease to Paul, but didn't crush his confidence.

"I'm flattered by your solicitude, sis, but I really don't give a pile of Growlithe's sh*t that you would travel here only to reassure my too attentive brother that I'm fine and well. So I'm going to repeat myself again. What are you doing here?" Paul replied in a similar calm tone intending to goad his sister.

"You wound me deeply, Paul" she cried in a mock whimper. "Tell me, are you still bitter about-"

"That's enough, both of you!" Reggie barked, as he witnessed the scene unfold. "I won't allow you two arguing about the past in this house."

"Don't be such a mood-killer, Reggie. In the end, I just wanted to congratulate our brother on his birthday." the sister tittered shrugging her shoulders in a sign of innocence.

"Just don't think that if you are a frontier brain, you can mock Paul. He is having a hard time on his own right now," replied Reggie in an unusual stern tone.

"Thanks, but I can take care of myself, Reggie." hissed Paul. One thing which he hated even more than being mocked was any kind of compassion towards him. "I don't require your support in this sort of matters."

With these final words Paul silently stormed his way upstairs to his bedroom.

Paul's room was a rather plain, empty space – not that he cared, since he hardly ever used it. It only held the bare minimum which defined it as a bedroom: a bed with clean, pearly white sheets which looked as though they were never used, a closet full of clothes Paul never wore, and an empty dusty desk. The walls were of pale, yellow color, which seemed to hold no life at all. Completely bare of posters or photos which one might expect of a now sixteen year old hormone-driven teenager, the only thing that provided the room with any sign of life was the window set above the desk, allowing anyone in the room a view out into the backyard.

The simplicity of a room interior had another, less obvious, but still very important by Paul's standards, aim: to make it easy to spot any new or foreign addition in the room. As soon as Paul entered the room, he noticed the abnormality – a black computer hard drive lying in the center of his desk.

The first reaction was to ask his brother about the finding, but a quick analysis postponed this idea – a piece of paper was stuck under the disk. Curiosity quickly overtook the suspicion and before Paul even realized he was already scanning a single sheet of paper.

Sometimes the sole strategy is not enough. Consider it as a birthday gift for your last five years…

There was no signature to the short message, but the handwriting was enough to make Paul fall in his chair. He reread the note several times trying to find any hidden meaning or think of any reason why would she suddenly want to help Paul. But of course, he saved her from drowning back on Varity lake…

A soft knock at the door brought Paul from his thoughts. "What part of "I don't require your help" didn't you get?!" roared Paul. He instantly fell silent blaming himself for his sick temper though.

"Paul, we need to talk. Personally." his sister's voice sounded more sad and stern rather than calm one he had just heard moments ago and it was not the only difference. Her always calm and cheerful face was filled with sorrow, which was an unusual sign. Paul twitched eyebrow expecting some sort of trap, but before he could protest, his sister started the dialog.

"I know we had tense relationship for the past few years, but I think you should know that I've never meant to harm you or your career."

Paul chortled in response. "Oh, so you've actually arrived to console me, sis. Just don't make such a sad face, while attempting. It makes me think that I'm beating a 5 years old child right now."

"Just listen and try understand the situation." She said in plea with a sorrow still written on her face. "I know you don't believe me, but I'm sincerely sorry for everything that happened in our family for the last 4 years. I really didn't want to, but the other brains pressed on me… especially the one, you know who. Besides, this title of frontier brain-"

"If you know that I won't believe you in the first place, why do you even bother telling me how noble you try to be on your position as a frontier brain." Paul cut in. "It still puzzles me though that you don't have keckleon in your team. It would so suit your character well. I bet you were all fluff and puff in front of Ketchum."

"Can we leave the topic of my personality for another talk then?"

"Sure, pleasure making business with you, sis." Paul said blithely.

"Would you like to switch sides?" the straightforwardness of his sister's question instantly dropped the temperature in the room.

"I know how you feel, Paul. You stand against the whole world with her, but in the end it is not enough to reach your goal." She slowly approached her silent brother and embraced him. Paul jerked at such unexpected action, but a sudden rush of unease suddenly hindered his further moves.

If it is the case, then how did I stand against them? Against Regie, against you?!" An urge to cry came in a nasty surprise for Paul. Hopefully his sister still hugging him couldn't see the Paul fighting with the onslaught of emotions he thought he had always controlled.

"You stand against the whole world with _her_, but in the end it is not enough to reach your goal." She said calmly to his ear. "As your sister I just don't want you to see all alone. Me and Regie are ready to help you in your quest, but in order to do so you have to stop turning us and more importantly your own pokemon down."

With these words Paul finally realized that something was not right.

"Are you feeling alright, sis, or is it another prank of yours again?" the Veilstone trainer asked suspiciously.

For several seconds nothing but palpable silence filled the room. Paul waited for her sister's answer, when he felt her shaking. He was about to believe that she was actually crying, if not a sudden quiet laugh coming from her. She moved away from Paul, and now he could clearly study her face.

"Very funny, Anabel. I've nearly given up." he said acidly. A sly smile crept his sister's foxy face. "You may be a frontier brain, but you are a fool to think that I've forgotten your technics."

"A fool I may be, Paul… yet right now I see a complete failure who hasn't even succeeded to get into semifinals in any of the three leagues in a row."

"Winning the league would be the last prerogative I would ever have. You used to know my credo well, sis."

"I know a stupid and rather illogical thinking of yours. Brandon was right, you ARE pathetic." Anabel made a quick sight of relief after dropping off these last words to Paul's displeasure. "However you were right in one thing back in the dining room. I didn't just arrive to Veilstone to simply console one of my brothers and insult another. That's just plainly stupid." she clicked her fingers and a medical capsule with the help of Edmund's psychic powers flew into the room. The incubator device made a smooth fly across the room and landed on Paul's desk just next to the hard drive.

"An egg?" Paul exclaimed skeptically. The idea of taking responsibility for the pokemon given by his sister was far from being favorable… especially after that incident with Chimchar.

Annabel giggled. "Good riddance, Paul. You should get a cookie for that. I had to use my position as a frontier brain to get this egg and transport it all the way from the Unova region. Oh, and I also found it increasingly difficult to reassure our older brother that this little fella who is going to hatch out of an egg won't be left like Chimchar."

"What should I do with this egg anyway? I' m not a breeder." Paul grumbled.

"Well, for starters you must carry it wherever you go."

"So, now you're harassing my right to move freely."

"This is to make sure that your feelings are conveyed to this little one. They tend to be quite prankish when young and it's up to their mother or in other words you to teach them a proper discipline."

Paul remained speechless. He realized it was just another "little" prank from his sister. Still something bugged him.

"Say, sis, why? Why did you spend so much effort for this egg, if I hadn't given you anything for the last four years?"

Anabel groaned. "Holy Arceus, just don't start again Paul. Just take this egg and shut up. And if I ever find out that you released this poor creature, I swear to you, I'll find it and shove it right to Ash Ketchum."


End file.
